Today I packaged and released a utility that I have been using for a while now, called ShellSend. ShellSend is a free command line utility for Windows 2000, 2003, XP and Vista that allows you to easily send a custom email from your scripts or batch files. Just run "shellsend.exe" with the correct command line parameters (like the "to address", "from address" and SMTP server) and watch as your email gets instantly delivered. You can specify a filename as well, and ShellSend will read the contents of the file and use that as the message body. Great for emailing log files or console program output to yourself.

All of you system administrators out there, or anyone who runs scheduled tasks, check out ShellSend today!

This is just a quick note to people that are waiting for help with iTunes Sync. I have received many, many emails looking for help and I am doing my best to answer each one, but there is currently a large backlog. Please be assured that you will receive a response as soon as possible.

A new version of Clipboard Text Scrubber has been released into the wild. v1.3.0 fixes an annoying bug that caused too many notifications to be shown, even when the clipboard hasn't been changed. Now, you should only receive a notification about the clipboard being scrubbed when it actually has done something. For example, copying text to the clipboard in the Notepad application will no longer cause a notification, but copying text from Microsoft Excel or Word will, because it really is being cleaned.

After over a month with no new release of Clipboard Text Scrubber I decided that last night and tonight I should focus on it, to clear up some outstanding issues. Here's a quick rundown on the wholesome goodness included in the 1.2.1 release:

Double-clicking on the system tray icon scrubs the text on the clipboard

Removed the "invalid format" message when non-text data is on the clipboard, it was annoying

Now saves application settings so you don't have to keep setting it up every time

New application icons

Significant memory usage reduction

Provides HTML scrubbing - this will remove any HTML tags from your clipboard

Setup now detects whether you need to install the .NET Framework 2.0 and will open a download page automatically

Just a quick update about iTunes Sync and the planned localization support. I have had an overwhelming response to include a German interface option in the next release of iTunes Sync. Amongst this response I have had about 1 person per day volunteering to help translate the interface. Fantastic! I have had to start turning people away because I have enough people already to help with German, but if you're interested in a different language just drop me a line. You can be sure that I will try my best to get German support into the next release.

iTunes Sync 1.4.0 has been released and it's jam packed full of changes. The biggest change in this new release is that iTunes Sync can now check for updates on program startup, if you so desire. The auto-update check is enabled by default but can be easily disabled using the system tray menu. The other big change is the re-design of the synchronize window (again). I have merged the "Select a Drive" window with the sync window, so that you can get your music sync'd easier, with less clicks.

Here is a complete rundown on the changes:

Automatic update checking at startup (defaults to enabled, but can be disabled if desired)

Double-click the system tray icon to open the synchronize window

Fixed the empty notification balloon for device insert/removal when the volume label is blank

Added 5 new folder structures:

\ Album \ Artist \ # - Song.mp3

\ Artist \ # - Song.mp3

\ Album \ # - Song.mp3

\ Genre \ Artist - # - Song.mp3

\ Genre \ Artist \ # - Song.mp3

Doesn't allow duplicate MP3 player names anymore

Changed "unknown" filenames to be more descriptive (example: "unknown artist" or "unknown album")

Got rid of the "Choose a Drive" window and moved it to a drop-down in the synchronize window for quicker drive selection

Saves the last used MP3 player name and selected it automatically when opening the synchronize window

Saves the volume name that was last used for each MP3 player and selects it automatically when selecting that MP3 player in the synchronize window

Added a "Language" option to the system tray menu in preparation for localization support (currently only has English as an option though)

Now detects and truncates long files (over 240 characters) to prevent errors when trying to copy the file the MP3 player

I was checking my stats for iTunes Sync recently and noticed that in my top 10 referring sites 1 was French and 2 are German. This came as a bit of a surprise to me, as iTunes Sync is English only. This got me thinking, is there any demand for localized versions of iTunes Sync? I have always wanted an excuse to play around with localization, so if anyone is interested in assisting with translations just drop me a line. There really isn't that much text in the interface, so translation would consist of about 50-60 words and phrases. If there isn't enough demand right now this is always something that can revisited for a later release.

Thanks to the tremendously positive feedback I have received from many people regarding iTunes Sync, I have been able to add a dozen devices so far to the Tested MP3 Players List. There is a healthy mix of makes and models, along with a couple cell phones as well. Keep that feedback rolling in using the Contact Me link at the top of the page to have your device, name and a link to your website (if you want) added to the tested MP3 players list. A big thanks to everyone who has submitted feedback so far - without your feedback iTunes Sync couldn't have developed to the point it is at now. Thanks!

With the new file formats iTunes Sync should now support video podcast (vodcasts) synching

Moved the settings file to the User's appdata folder, instead of storing it in the install folder under Program Files - this should help with Vista permissions. iTunes Sync will migrate old settings into the new location and delete the old config file

Implemented a new sync method. Now you pick a drive when synching - this is in preparation for MTP support currently in development

Stores the volume label of the last device you synched to and selects it automatically in the device list next time you sync

Corrected a spelling mistake in the Confirm Sync window

Fixed a bug that incorrectly calculated the free space of a drive while deleting files

Other minor tweaks and fixes

The biggest change is the elimination of the "identification file or folder" setting. This confused a number of people when trying to get their MP3 player to sync, so after much debate I decided to scrap it all together. I originally implemented it this way because I had been using iTunes Agent for so long, and had gotten used to it. However, I believe this new system will be better in the long run, especially when MTP support (currently in development) is released. So, now you just configure your device by giving it a name, sync path, playlist and folder structure. Simple. No creating files on the device for iTunes Sync to search for. When you want to sync you just choose your MP3 player from the list, choose a drive from the list of available drives and voila, sync magic happens. iTunes Sync will remember which drive volume label you used for each device and will automatically select it for you next time. Another big change is the addition of many more file extensions, which as a bonus also allows iTunes Sync to copy over vodcasts (video podcasts) to your device.

If you have any problems, questions, concerns, suggestions or anything else just jump over to the Discussion Forum.